Transfer device with an article bumper



Dec. 13, J BURKE TRANSFER DEVICE WITH AN ARTICLE BUMPER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 5, 1964 INVENTOR. JOHN J. BURKE- Dec. 13, 1966 J. J. BURKE TRANSFER DEVICE WITH AN ARTICLE BUMPER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 5, 1964 FIGS INVENT JOHN J. BU

United States Patent 3,291,519 TRANSFER DEVICE WITH AN ARTICLE BUMPER John J. Burke, Fontana, Calif, assignor to Kaiser Steel Corporation, @akland, Calif a corporation of Nevada Filed Oct. 5, 1964, Ser. No. 401,592. 8 Qlatms. (Cl. 294-67l This invention relates to the protection against damage of rolled or coiled sheet metal, foil, or other sheet material during the transfer thereof in various situations. Such material is generally wound, turn after turn, into a tight cylindrical coil or roll, having an open center of substantial diameter, known as the eye. A roll of this kind may require handling many times between the mill and the consumer, or between the mill and the factory in which the material of the roll is transformed into, or embodied in, individual commercial articles.

As the roll is wound in the rolling mill, the axis extends horizontally, but if the roll is to be transferred to an annealing oven, it should be turned during transfer so that it will be supported on end (with the axis of the roll vertically disposed) in the oven. It is preferably supported on end during storage in the warehouse and during transportation on a truck or railway car. When it is to be fabricated into articles, however, it should be placed in the fabricating machine with the roll axis again horizontally disposed for unwinding. Sometimes the transfer is from a horizontal disposition to a horizontal disposition of the roll axis, sometimes from a vertical to a vertical disposition, sometimes from horizontal to vertical, and sometimes from vertical to horizontal.

At every transfer, the coil is subjected to a substantial risk of damage through bending or tearing of the strip material at one end of the roll. Being tightly wound, the roll material can stand on end, even on a support of limited area, without marginal deformation of the material, but since the material of the roll is thin and fragile, it can be, and frequently is, seriously damaged in the course of transfer by the scraping of an unyielding portion of the transfer means along an end surface of the roll. This can occur in any one of the four types of transfer referred to above.

One of the transfer devices mostly commonly employed for handling material of the kind referred to is a C-shaped crane hook. Being C-shaped, the hook has an open end and a closed end. It includes a roll engaging arm for insertion or reception in the eye of the roll, a crane connected arm, and a cross arm which connects the other two arms and which extends substantially radially of the roll when the eye penetrating arm has been inserted fully into the eye of the roll. The cross-connecting arm forms an unyielding shoulder adjacent the supported end of the eye penetrating arm. The shoulder is generally used as a visual or mechanical gauge for measuring the depth of insertion of the penetrating arm into the eye of a horizontally disposed roll and it serves as the roll support when a vertically disposed roll is lifted. Relative scraping movement of the roll and shoulder can occur after engagement of the roll with the shoulder in either case. The shoulder then digs into the engaged end of the roll, bending or tearing of the marginal material of the roll through a multiplicity of turns of the material. Damage of this kind has not heretofore been avoidable under practical operating conditions.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide improved roll handling means whereby damage of the kind referred to is automatically prevented. To this end, the shouldered portion of the C-hook or other eye penetrating equipment is provided with a movably mounted, roll-engaging bumper or butter, which is yieldingly biased to a normal position relative to the C-hook such that the bumper is free to be held by the roll in fixed relation to the roll as the eye penetrating arm is then shifted into operative engagement with the inner surface of the roll. By this expedient, rubbing and gouging of the roll end by the shoulder or by a bumper fixed 0n the shoulder is avoided as the hook, in its preliminary upward movement, takes up the capacity for lost motion between the hook and the roll.

As will be made clear, relative movement between the hook and the roll can occur in the lifting of a horizontal roll, in the tilting of a roll from horizontal to vertical or from vertical to horizontal, or in transferring the roll from an end-supported condition in one location to an end-supported condition in another. In all these situations the movably mounted bumper will be held in fixed relation to the roll, and will thereby be caused to perform its intended protective function. The same thing is true whether the eye-penetrating arm and the shoulder form parts of a C-hook or of some other form of roll lifting or roll turning apparatus.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings forming part of this specification,

FIGURE 1 consists of two partial diagram sequences involving transfer of a roll from horizontal to vertical and from vertical to horizontal, and is designed to show the nature of the problem which is solved by the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view in elevation of a C-hook which shows in detail a preferred bumper embodiment of the instant invention applied thereto; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2, and rotated clockwise but on a substantially larger scale than FIGURE 2.

With further reference to the drawings in particular FIGURE 1, a roll 10 of sheet material is shown in sequence A steps I to IV for the purpose of illustration in the upper half of FIG. 1 as being picked up from a position in which the eye 12 of the roll extends horizontally and the eye 12 is turned to be disposed vertically. In sequence B steps I to III for the purpose of illustration in the lower half of FIGURE 1, the roll is shown as being picked up from a vertical disposition of the eye and turned toward a horizontal disposition. The roll 10 is shown in FIG. 1 as being handled by a C-hook, but the mechanism for lifting and manipulating the C-hook is not shown because the invention has to do with means for protecting against injury a roll handled by a C-hook,'

or other roll carrying device. The C-hook 14 comprises, as usual, an eye penetrating arm 16, a substantially parallel lifting arm 18, and a cross-connecting arm 20. Being C-shaped, the C-hook has an open end and a closed end. The C-hook is a rigid, unitary structure. The arm 20 extends away from the eye penetrating arm 16, in fixed relation to it, and forms a shoulder, disposed at right angles to the eye penetrating arm, which shoulder bears against the end of the roll and serves as a mechanical gauge for limiting insertion of the eye penetrating arm into a horizontally disposed rib, and as a load carrier for a vertically disposed roll.

Practically all roll damage which occurs when handling rolls of wound sheet material with C-hooks and related equipment is caused by a scraping of the arm 20, or an equivalent shoulder across the associated roll end. This causes a bending or tearing of the marginal portion of the roll through a multiplicity of turns of the roll. A roll so damaged is generally not usable in the manner and for the purpose originally intended. Generally the material will either require to be unwound, edge trimmed to the next narrower standard width and rewound, or a substantial portion of the length of the material will have to be discarded as scrap.

In diagram A-I, tthe eye penetrating arm 16 of the C-hook is shown as fully inserted into the roll, but not as drawn upward into lifting engagement with the uppermost element 22 of the inner surface of the roll. In diagram A-II the arm 16 has been raised to lifting position, but the roll has remained stationary during this lifting of the hook. All that has been accomplished is the taking up of -a capacity for lost motion between the hook and the roll. Yet during this relative movement of the hook and the roll the roll may have been scraped and severely damaged by the arm 20. The damage will be more severe if the free end of the arm 16 was initially inclined upward, or if the lifting cable attached to arm 18 was inclined toward the left in an upward direction.

From the condition of diagram AII, the lifting of the roll to the condition of diagram A-III can generally be achieved with little liability of injury to the roll. If, from the condition of diagram A-III the roll is to be deposited in a new location in the same horizontal attitude from which it was picked up, the conditions of diagrams A-II and A-I are retraced in the order mentioned. Between A-II and A-I there is again a likelihood that the roll end will be scraped and damaged.

If the horizontal to vertical sequence is to be carried through from the condition of diagram A-III, the C-hook 14 is turned clockwise through a right angle. This can generally be accomplished with safety, but if there is a substantial turning beyond the vertical, causing the roll to slide toward the right along arm 20, the sliding can continue until arrested by arm 18 or by engagement of the inner surface of the roll with the normally inactive edge of arm 16. Such sliding will cause very severe damage be-v cause the entire weight of the roll is now resting on arm 20.

From the condition of diagram A-IV the roll may be deposited in a vertical position on a divided shelf 24, which is mounted on a wall 26, as shown in diagram BI. Diagram BI, however, shows arm 16 out of engagement with the inner surface of the roll, but the relationship of roll to C-hook shown in diagram A-IV should have been maintained until after the roll has become fully shelfborne. If the roll is rammed into the Wall while supported by arm 20, severe damage will result.

When a roll is to be picked up from a vertical disposition, the arm is first inserted as shown in diagram B-I, and the C-hook is drawn to the right to take up lost motion with the new familiar liability of scraping. If it is not so drawn, an unstable condition like that of diagram B-II will result. With swaying during travel, trouble is almost inevitable in this situation. In any event, when turning of the roll as illustrated in diagram B-IH is undertaken, any available freedom for relative movement between the inner surface of the roll and the arm 16 will result in a sliding of the roll end along arm 20. Sequence B will be completed by achieving successively the conditions of diagrams A-II and A-I, with the hazards already made clear.

For protecting the roll 10 against all of the hazards referred to, the bumper 30 is provided and is mounted in a novel manner on the arm 20. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bumper consists of a metallic plate 32 and on the face thereof, a pad or buffer 34 is secured in a suitable fashion such as by adhesion. It is to be understood in certain applications of the bumper 30, the pad or buffer 34 desirably comprises a relatively hard material, for instance, hard wood or hard rubber. However, depending upon other particular applications of the bumper 30, the pad or buffer 34 could be comprised of matted rope natural or synthetic fiber or even of a relatively soft material. The plate 32, whose width exceeds the width of the arm 20, has angle bars 36 welded to its rear face along the opposite longitudinal margins thereof. Guide rollers 38, revolvably carried by the angle bars 36, are confined in guide channels of channel bars 40. The channels bars 40 are welded to the front and rear sides of the arm 20. The bumper is therefore free to move in the direction of the length of the arm 20, but is confined against movement relative to the arm in any other direction. Cables 42 are connected at the front and rear to the upper end of the plate 32, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, and are trained on pulleys 44, the pulleys being mounted above the channel guides 40 on front and rear faces of the arm 20. From the pulleys 44 the cables 42 extend downward and are secured at their free right-hand ends to bumper counterbalancing weights 46. The weights 46 are confined in cylindrical housings 48, the housings having solid closure members at their lower ends and perforated closure members (for passage of the cables) at their upper ends. The two weights 46, taken together, slightly more than counterbalance the bumper, and hence bias the bumper to a normal upper limit of movement in which it is shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the Weights 46 rest on the lower closure members of the housings 48. Although the elements 42 and 44 are aforedescribed as a cable and pulley, a chain and sprocket could equally be employed.

It will now be apparent that when the C-hook 14 is inserted in the roll 10 as shown in FIG. 1, the bumper will be pressed against the end of the roll. As the C-hook is then lifted vertically, the bumper remains stationary so long as the roll remains stationary, there being absolutely no relative movement, and hence no rubbing or scraping effect, between the roll and the bumper. When the lost motion between the roll 10 and the arm 16 has been taken up, and the roll is lifted by the arm 16, the bumper moves upward in unison with the roll, the bumper being at all times the slave of the roll as regards its position, and not of the C-hook on which it is mounted.

When the roll has been lifted comfortably clear of the floor, the roll with its eye 12 may be turned to a vertical attitude. Throughout this turning operation, however, the inner wall of the roll will maintain unaltered contact with the arm 20. Even if the eye 12 of the roll should be tilted beyond the vertical, causing the inner surface of the roll to leave contact with the arm 16, the bumper 30 will move outward in unison with the roll until such outward movement is arrested by engagement of the outer roll surface with the arm 18, or engagement of the inner surface of the roll with the normally inactive surface of the arm 16. Although the length of the cable 42 is desirably chosen to enable the pad 34 to move to its lowermost position adjacent the inner end of arm 16, such as the dotted line position of the pad 34 in FIG. 2, the chosen length of the cable 42 may in fact be such that the counterweight would be arrested in the lower end of the tube 48 prior to the pad 34 reaching its uppermost position adjacent the pulley 44. For instance, the pad 34 would reach its uppermost position when, as aforedescribed, paragraph above, the outward movement of the roll 10 on the hook 14 is arrested by engagement of the outer surface of the roll 10 with the arm 18. Consequently, it is evident that although the counterweight 46 may have a limiting position at the bottom end of the tube 48, the bumper device 30 should be proportioned in such a fashion between the arms 16 and 18 of the hook 14, that the pad 34, when the pad 34 is in contact with the rolled edge of the roll 10, is free to move in the channels 40 for any movement of the roll 10 between the arms 16 and 18. Thus, if the bumper 34 is not properly proportioned between the arms 16 and 18, obviously, the pad movement is arrested, for example by abutting engagement with the pulley 44 prior to the outer surface of the roll being arrested by the arm 18. Obviously, such an arrestrnent of the pad movement would damage the rolled edge of the roll 10.

In every situation in which scraping of the roll end against the arm 20 could occur, if the movable bumper 30, as aforedescribed, is provided, no scraping of the roll results. It is further contemplated that the device 30 may utilize a suitably designed protective housing to surround the elements such as the tube 43 and channels 40 positioned behind the plate 32 of the pad 34.

Although not heretofore mentioned, the bumper device 30 could readily be adapted for installation to other transfer devices such as conveyors or fork-lift trucks. It is to be observed that when the device 30 is incorporated in a fork-lift truck, the device should be installed in such a fashion as to minimize any increase in the load movement arm.

An advantageous embodiment of the invention has been shown and described. It would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A transfer device for use in the handling of a roll or coil of strip material having an eye at the center thereof, comprising, in combination, an arm constructed and arranged for penetrating the eye of the roll with limited freedom for lost motion, a rigid member fixedly united with the eye penetrating arm and extending away from the arm at one end thereof, a bumper carried by the rigid member and having a roll end engaging surface of substantial area disposed substantially at right angles to the arm for receiving and sustaining the end thrusts of a roll, means mounting the bumper on said rigid member with substantial freedom for movement relative to the arm in a plane located at a substantially right angle to the arm, but restraining the bumper against other movement relative to the arm, and means yieldingly urging the bumper to a predetermined normal position relative to the arm such that during engagement of the bumper with the roll end, the bumper will be free to maintain a fixed position relative to the roll end.

2. A transfer device for use in the handling of a roll or coil of strip material having an eye at the center thereof, comprising, in combination, an arm constructed and arranged for penetrating the eye of the roll with limited freedom for lost motion, a rigid member extending away from the arm at one end thereof and in fixed relation thereto, a bumper carried by the rigid member and having a surface of substantial area disposed substantially at right angles to the arm for receiving and sustaining the end thrust of a roll, means mounting the bumper on said rigid member with freedom for movement toward and from the arm in a plane located at a substantially right angle to the arm while positively restraining the bumper against other movement, and biasing means yieldingly urging the bumper away from the arm to a predetermined normal position relative to the arm such that throughout engagement of the bumper with the roll end, the bumper will be free to maintain a fixed position relative to the roll.

3. A transfer device for use in the handling of a roll or coil of strip material having an eye at the center thereof, comprising, in combination, a C-clamp which includes an inner arm constructed and arranged for penetrating the eye of the roll with limited freedom for st motion, an outer lifting arm parallel to the eye penetrating arm and an intermediate connecting arm, a bumper carried by the intermediate arm and having a surface of substantial area disposed substantially at right angles to the inner arm, for receiving and sustaining the end thrust of the roll, means mounting the bumper on said intermediate arm with substantial freedom for movement toward and from the inner arm in a plane at right angles to the inner arm while positively restraining the bumper against other movement relative to the C-clamp, and biasing means yieldingly urging the bumper away from the inner arm to a predetermined normal position relative to the inner arm such that throughout engagement of the bumper with -a roll end, the bumper will be free to maintain a fixed position relative to the roll.

4. A transfer device as set forth in claim 3 in which the bumper is equipped with guide rollers and the intermediate arm is equipped with channel guides for said rollers which extend directly toward and from the inner arm, and in which the biasing means comprises at least one pulley, cable, and bumper counter-balancing weight device, one end of the cable being connected to the bumper and the opposite end thereof being connected to the weight device and the cable being supported intermediate its ends on the pulley.

5. A transfer device as set forth in claim 3 in which the bumper is equipped with guide rollers and the intermediate arm is equipped with channel guides for said rollers which extend directly toward and from the inner arm, in which the biasing means consist of pulley, cable and bumper counter-weight devices together with counterweight housings, one end of each cable being connected to the bumper and the opposite end of each cable being connected to one of said bumper counter-weight devices and each cable also being supported intermediate its ends on one of the pulley devices, the counter-weight devices urging the bumper away from the inner arm with uniform force throughout an assigned range of movement.

6. A transfer device as set forth in claim 1 in which the bumper includes a fiat rigid plate and a facing therefor for relatively hard material.

7. A transfer device as set forth in claim 1 in which the bumper includes a flat rigid plate and a replaceable facing pad therefor composed of rope.

8. A transfer device as set forth in claim 1 in which the bumper includes a flat rigid plate and a replaceable pad therefor composed of relatively soft material.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1961 Casey 2l4382 8/1965 Bradley 29486 X 2,680,644 6/1954 Marconi.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

G. F. ABRAHAM, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A TRANSFER DEVICE FOR USE IN THE HANDLING OF A ROLL OR COIL OF STRIP MATERIAL HAVING AN EYE AT THE CENTER THEREOF, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, AN ARM CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED FOR PENETRATING THE EYE OF THE ROLL WITH LIMITED FREEDOM FOR LOST MOTION, A RIGID MEMBER FIXEDLY UNITED WITH THE EYE PENETRATING ARM AND EXTENDING AWAY FROM THE ARM AT ONE END THEREOF, A BUMPER CARRIED BY THE RIGID MEMBER AND HAVING A ROLL END ENGAGING SURFACE OF SUBSTANTIAL AREA DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE ARM FOR RECEIVING AND SUSTAINING THE END THRUSTS OF A ROLL, MEANS MOUNTING THE BUMPER ON SAID RIGID MEMBER WITH SUBSTANTIAL FREEDOM FOR MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO THE ARM IN A PLANE LOCATED AT A SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT ANGLE TO THE ARM, BUT RESTRAINING THE BUMPER AGAINST OTHER MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO THE ARM, AND MEANS YIELDINGLY URGING THE BUMPER TO A PREDETERMINED NORMAL POSITION RELATIVE TO THE ARM SUCH THAT DURING ENGAGEMENT OF THE BUMPER WITH THE ROLL END, THE BUMPER WILL BE FREE TO MAINTAIN A FIXED POSITION RELATIVE TO THE ROLL END. 